God Does Not Fail

One of my former students told me that, in her first year at a certain Christian college, she realized the stark differences between the theologies of Christian denominations. The professor who spoke in her Bible class told her that, over the course of the semester, the class would study God's attempts to save Man. At this point she raised her hand and asked (more testified), "When does God ever attempt something that He cannot do?" Good question.


This morning I was reading the first chapter of Romans and came across a verse that I have probably read over at least a thousand times. In verse 2 (and part of 3), Paul states that the gospel was one "which he promised beforehand through his Prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son," Basically what Paul is saying here is that the gospel is plan A not plan B.
There are some who believe that the Old Testament records the history of God's failed attempts to save His people. After Adam, He tries with Noah. After Noah, He tries with Abraham. After Abraham He tries with Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, etc. Then He spells out His expectations through Moses. Once again the people fail. So God sends the Judges and they fail. He sends the Kings and they fail. He sends the Prophets and they fail. So finally the people go into exile. Once they come out of the exile they still get it all wrong. So finally God decides to send His Son. This is not the correct view of the history of salvation. Paul has said that the point of Scripture is to point to the gospel. That is why, immediately after the fall of Adam, God promises the coming of the Messiah in in Genesis 3:15.
So why is all of this important? Because one view says that God fails and the other doesn't. If God fails and failed over and over with His people, then He is bound to fail with you. When you can't overcome your nagging sins, your furious doubts even after He has tried over and over to reform you, this theology says that He might eventually fail you.
Of course we know that is not true. God never fails. Though many of us would claim we believe the theology that God does not fail, I think that in practice we tend to believe the theology that says that God does fail. We just don't admit it.
We did not get a contract on our house on the 26th. Did God fail? No. He just decided that His will is different from mine. Whenever we submit our requests to God, they must always be contingent upon His Will. He is a good God and He intends to do us good. Scripture testifies that no father, when his child asks for an egg, will give the child a snake instead. Instead, God is a father who likes to give good gifts to His children. Yet, we can only hope that timing will match ours.
I have no doubt that the Lord will allow our house to sell. Will it be in the time that I think it should be sold? Probably not, but I can still ask, as long as I don't view God's disregard of my timing preferences as "failure" on His part.
Keep praying that we will have a contract soon and pray with hope that God will provide one, not only to we who are getting ready to start a new adventure in a different town, but for others you know who are about to do the same.

Read More......

It's Friday...But Sunday is Coming

The title of this post "It's Friday but Sunday's Coming" is attributed to Tony Campolo and is a description of the feeling of hopelessness the disciples had before the Resurrection. It is a reminder that though things seem bleak at moments in our lives that God will come through in the end.

It is Friday as I write this post and I've just finished up some Bible stories that will be used in CPC's music camp, packed books and weeded the front and back lawns. I am certainly feeling the hopelessness of "Friday". The fact that I'm going to have to head down to Atlanta without my family June 1st pales in comparison to all of the hopelessness I see in the world around me: cyclones, earthquakes, war, the unstable economy and the price of gas. All of these have a common denominator whether they be personal (seemingly insignificant questions) or the global questions. The common denominator is "Where is God's faithfulness". When the uncertainties that we face in our personal lives or as a human race come, we often begin to doubt that God is faithful. It must be an inkling of what the disciples felt as they watched Jesus die on the Cross thinking it was the end. They had put all their hopes in Jesus. They had left their nets, lucrative businesses, meaningless lives for something...Someone greater. On Friday that Someone died. Perhaps they thought they had believed in vain. Then came Sunday and the Resurrection. All too often we rush ahead from Friday to Sunday. But what happened on Saturday? Despair. Questions. Shattered faith. Uncertainty. For we who wait expectantly for Jesus' Second Coming, every day is the Saturday between that awful Friday and that glorious Sunday. We know that Christ has risen and is at work. We know this by faith, but what we see day to day is a reminder that it isn't finished yet. So history marches on, the earth gets hotter and our anxieties about the future increase every day. The temptation while living in the "Saturday World" of despair and gloom is to believe that it isn't true or that somehow God has forgotten about us. So if my house doesn't sell by the 26th or if it doesn't sell for the whole Summer should I believe that God has forgotten about me? No. If gas goes up to $10 a gallon or the earth gets another few degrees hotter, does that mean that God has abandoned us? No. It means it is Saturday and we are in that long stretch before God's timing is fulfilled. And God's timing WILL be fulfilled. On a personal note I look forward to Sunday. We have an open house from 2-5, our neighbors to our right are holding a yard sale (more traffic) and our neighbors to the left decided to go ahead and have their once-a-year grass cutting. So everything is set for a good showing on Sunday. But if by Monday the 26th we do not have an offer, will God have failed? No. Not at all. He just has a better plan that I don't quite understand. The wonderful thing is that I can talk to the Lord about all of this. Whatever is on my mind. If it is gas prices, earthquakes, fear, whatever it is, I can talk to Him. How often do I talk to Him about these things? Not often enough, honestly. How about you?

Read More......

Updates

We have had three showing of our house this weekend: Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Your prayers continue to be heard! Pray now that we will get an offer on our house before the 26th. It would be nice to know that I would not have to live apart from Tennyson and the kids for too long.

My installation as the new Assistant Pastor to Children and Youth at Christ Community Church is this Sunday May 25th. I begin officially the following Sunday. Please continue to pray for us during the transition. Also, if you have received a prayer pledge card, please remember to mail that prayer support card in before the 26th.

Read More......

Prayer, Our House and the Number 26

Many have wondered how you can pray for us. The biggest way you can pray right now is to pray for our house to sell so that we can purchase a house in Atlanta. It is an incredibly difficult time to sell a house as many of you know. The market in Chattanooga is decent, but it is still very slow. Please pray for us that we will be able to sell our house quickly. I'm setting a date of May 26th. That is what I'm focusing on in my prayers. I know that the Lord is fully and completely able to provide a contract on our house by that time. The reason I say the 26th is that Tennyson and I have a history of doing big things on the 26th. Most of the time we haven't even planned it that way.
Our first date was on January 26th. I believe I proposed on December 23rd, because my father-in-law's birthday was on the 26th and it would've been too easy to guess that I would propose on the 24th or 24th. We were married on July 26th (which interestingly enough was my grandfather's birthday). We moved to St. Louis for seminary on June 26th. I believe we closed on our first house on the 26th. There are quite a few that I know I'm forgetting.
For this reason I'm setting a date of BEFORE May 26th as a time to have a contract on our house. That is 13 days from today (May 13th) and it is on a Monday. So pray with me that the Lord would bless us with a contract on our house before May 26th.
I am fully aware that the Lord may intend to have our house sell after that date. That is His perogative. However, we can always ask if such timing is in agreement with His Sovereign will. I know one thing to be true, however, the Lord delights to answer the prayers of His children in a way that brings glory only to Himself. To God alone be the glory.

Read More......